


Dreams Come In Blue

by XtaticPearl



Series: The BETA Compendium [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bullying, Fluff and Angst, Gen, implied racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 21:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8594821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: “You’re wearing blue,” Tony said, voice muffled into Rhodey’s thigh and Rhodey frowned at the mop of hair on his lap.“So?”“You only wear blue when you’re upset,” Tony said in a quieter voice before looking up, big doe eyes serious and the now overgrown hair falling onto his forehead a bit, “And you seem to have a lot of blue in your wardrobe nowadays.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Heylo! This is my first drabble/ficlet of the collection I’m writing on the BETA gang, a part of my fic [A Cold Winter’s Night](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7395985). The BETA gang is the group of descendants who are Tony’s closest friends and I really love the characters in my head. I hope you enjoy this collection as it progresses.

“Your wardrobe is ridiculous”

Rhodey raised his eyes from the book he was reading to mock-glare at his roommate.

“Compared to your Mister Softee t-shirts? Yeah, sure,” he quipped and snorted when Tony, in the manner that showed his peak of maturity, poked his tongue out from his bed.

“I’m serious, Jim,” Tony flopped onto his stomach and brushes a few errant fringes off his forehead, “it’s ridiculous. You have _Captain America_  PJs.”

“Right, because having Captain America underwear is so much better,” Rhodey rolled his eyes, getting back to his book. He tried to focus on his reading despite the chaos in his head when he felt the book being snatched off his hands and found a lapful of a whining Tony, using Rhodey as a pillow and butting his stomach with Tony’s head.

“I need to study,” Rhodey huffed and leaned forward to take back his book but Tony simply buries it under his own body and buts Rhodey’s stomach again.

“Tones…”

“You’re wearing blue,” Tony said, voice muffled into Rhodey’s thigh and Rhodey frowned at the mop of hair on his lap.

“So?”

“You only wear blue when you’re upset,” Tony said in a quieter voice before looking up, big doe eyes serious and the now overgrown hair falling onto his forehead a bit, “And you seem to have a lot of blue in your wardrobe nowadays.”

Rhodey opened his mouth to scoff at that but something choked in his throat. It was a completely ridiculous concept. He wasn’t the kind to wear clothing according to his moods. Not at all. That was preposterous.

The fatigue, unexplained sadness and stress he was feeling for the past month had nothing to do with it.

“You’re such an ass, Stark,” Rhodey sighed but it came out more fond than annoyed and by the look of Tony’s smug grin, he knew it too.

“But I’m such a pretty ass, Rhodey,” Tony batted his eyes and Rhodey felt the first chuckle of the week escape his mouth at the stupid antics of his best friend. “C’mon, don’t be blue. It’s snuggle time,” Tony wheedled and Rhodey tried to argue but Tony pulled out his most pathetic puppy eyes, and on his baby face it worked wonders, “C’mon, platypus. Please?”

“Such an ass,” Rhodey reiterated on another sigh but obliged, feeling pretty tired himself. Tony winked at him before pulling at him till they re-arranged themselves and took a nap, cuddling into the cream duvet Tony had dragged off his own bed. 

The feeling of unease and fatigue didn’t disappear for days after that either. Rhodey knew that he couldn’t afford to waste time on dealing with anything that was not his studies. He had known that right from the start, from the minute he had gotten a scholarship to join MIT. He had known that it would be tough, tougher for him than most others, to succeed in the environment he had chosen. It was a smokescreen many hid behind and refused to acknowledge but Rhodey knew that his age and other people’s bigotry would go far in creating obstacles from time to time. It was an awareness ingrained into his head from the time that he had first seen his dad and a colleague getting different treatments during an official gathering of hid dad’s troop. It was an awareness that had grown and fueled his need to excel harder than his peers.

To throw away that need for the sake of an intangible unease, expected fatigue, and unnecessary homesickness was not something James Rhodes was prepared to do. So the 17 year old swallowed down the problems and moved forward, pushing harder and longer, through long hours at days and nights. He knew that Tony noticed, the younger genius always did, but Tony could get into his own zone easily too, and would eventually be knee deep in his own projects too. 

 _It was fine_ , Rhodey told himself whenever he would catch a look at his face in the mirror in the morning, and notice his eyes looking a bit dull, _It would all be worth it._

It didn’t help when he had to deal with bullying seniors too though.

“You don’t belong here, chocolate,” Aaron, the tall lanky guy with a constant sneer would hiss in library corners.

“Fucking sympathy seekers,” Gina, the short, red-eyed hallways stalker would mutter every time one of the professors had to break up a brewing fight of bigotry.

“Freeloaders,” Rink, the buzz cut redneck would grunt every time Rhodey picked up books knocked down out of his hands in a stumble. 

He wasn’t a silent spectator, not always. His mama had raised him with a clear voice and his pop had taught him to remember his head and heart. So yes, James fought back, sometimes silently, sometimes with a higher decibel, even a few times with fists. He knew how to fight back.

But it did get tiring at times, the constant vigilance and burden to defend himself for merely existing. For dreaming bigger than the expectations of those around him. It was draining and destabilizing during rare spells. It did nothing good for his prolonged low thrum of exhaustion and unknown sadness.

“Here,” Tony threw a package at him a week before the Christmas hols began. Rhodey caught the palm-sized box with one hand mid-air and blinked at his manic looking best friend.

“Okay,” Rhodey said cautiously but Tony simply gestured at the box impatiently.

“Well, open it,” he insisted with gleaming eyes and Rhodey raised an eyebrow but opened the badly wrapped gift, opening the cardboard looking box to see -

“What the hell,” Rhodey breathed and Tony jumped onto his bed, bouncing the poor mattress for a minute, “Tones, this - what the _hell_.”

“I know right!” Tony crowed and Rhodey looked up at him with a stunned expression, “Apparently Dr. Wilkes got it from him gave it to dad, who didn’t really care much for it and gave it to Jarvis, who doesn’t really need it much, so I told him to send it - and it’s here! Isn’t it brilliant? It’s brilliant, right?”

“Brilliant,” Rhodey nodded and reverently turned the _Challenger_  patchwork with Guion Bluford’s autograph at the back. The astronaut had been both Tony and Rhodey’s inspiration, though for different reasons, and Rhodey had always wanted to meet him. To hold his patch in his hands was like holding a dream in his palms.

“This - Tones, you sure?” Rhodey asked, feeling awe-struck enough to not make a sassy quip. Tony snorted and poked at Rhodey’s knee with his foot.

“Yeah, dumbass,” he said with a grin when Rhodey looked up, “Anyway, blue’s more your color than mine.”

Rhodey huffed at that but had a soft grin playing on his face for the rest of the day. It didn’t erase the sadness or exhaustion completely but it did help to look at a silver lining.

Things came to a head though on the day before Rhodey was supposed to leave for Christmas hols. Tony was leaving later that day, and wasn’t really in a good mood because of that. He never seemed to be in one when he had to go back home. Rhodey, on the other hand, looked forward to go home - to meet his mama, pop, Jeanie. He felt the exhaustion weighing heavily by then and was a bit relieved that he would be able to take a load off when he got home. He hid all of Tony’s sneaked-in beer in places he knew the younger boy wouldn’t find, packed his own bag, made sure to lock away all of their collective comics to keep from Tony ripping them apart in a bad mood, and had successfully coaxed Tony to throw together his own bag too.

“I’ll just drop by the library,” he told Tony as he left to return a book he had issued and Tony waved him off without turning back from his packing. Shaking his head at the grumpy mood of his roommate, Rhodey walked down the corridors swiftly, a bit lost in his thoughts and feeling a hint of excitement at the prospect of going back home for Christmas. Maybe he could get mama to pack an additional box of sweets for Tony when he came back. Maybe he could invite Tony to join them this year whenever he was free. Maybe -

The shove came out of nowhere and Rhodey fell flat, not having anticipated or been prepared for it. He looked up from the floor, blinking hard and trying to catch his breath when he noted a particular senior-in-age classmate who had always held a grudge against him for…well, being him. He saw another boy with the first one and mentally prepared to try and fight back.

But it wasn’t much of a fight in the end. Rhodey could have probably gotten away if he hadn’t felt so goddamned tired and weak, but he did feel so, and it slowed down his response time a bit. The last thing he registered before he felt darkness take over was the shouts of Tony’s voice.

“- stay awake! Rhodes!”

Rhodey tried to tell him that he just wanted to sleep, that now he was black and blue, that he was tired and just wanted to sleep, but his eyes did a better job than his mouth and he let the unconsciousness wash over him.

When he woke up, he came awake to sounds of two familiar sounding voices. He tried to breathe in deep and felt his ribs hurt, but he must have made some sort of sound, because there were hands stilling his shoulders gently.

“Easy, easy,” a warm but firm voice instructed and somewhere i his brain, Rhodey placed it on his mama’s vocal.

“Mama?” he whispered hoarsely and tried to open his eyes slowly, only to be met with a bendy straw placed at his lips.

“Slow sips, Jimmy,” mama said kindly and Rhodey obeyed her, taking sips of the cool liquid, feeling it wet his parched throat.

“Wha..?” he asked when the straw was taken away and felt his vision focus a bit, noting that his mother was in his view, “Mama, where..?”

“Hospital,” she said with a pained tone but shook her head when he made an uneasy sound at the back of his throat, “No, no, Jimmy, relax. You’re fine. Well, not all that fine but you will be. It’s okay.”

“Mama, I - ,” Rhodey didn’t know what he wanted to say, didn’t know what the words were to express all his exhaustion and ache, but his mother’s face softened like she knew, like she could read it on his face.

“You just rest, baby,” she said softly and bent to kiss him on his forehead. Rhodey breathed her scent in and felt a choke in his throat at the feeling of finding something he had missed for too long. He took a shuddering breath and his mother’s hand tightened around his own. 

Slowly, Rhodey leaned back to look around the room and his eyes fell on his father smiling at him from a chair not far away. He tried to say hi but his father simply waved and understood what Rhodey wanted to say with a nod.

Rhodey suddenly remembered the last voice he had heard before he collapsed and his eyes flew back to his mama’s face.

“Tony? Mama, Tony was there,” he whispered urgently but his mother only grinned and sighed exasperatedly.

“Both of you are the same, I swear,” she shook her head fondly and shared a look with her husband before looking back at Rhodey, “He’s fine. He’s outside with Jeanette and some cousin of his. Boy created a ruckus till we got here. Good thing his butler and godmother came along with him. Took the entire hospital on his head and wouldn’t stop snapping. Baby, you’ve gone and adopted a damn puppy for yourself, haven’t you?”

Rhodey was about to reply with a laugh when the door opened and two heads peeked in.

“He’s awake!” Jeanette exclaimed happily and burst into the room, dragging Tony by his hand, “Jimmy! You’re awake!”

“Hey, short-stack,” Rhodey quipped with a grin and laughed at the indignant huff of his sister before looking up at Tony who looked weary but relieved.

“Hey, don’t go knocking Jeanie,” Tony retorted with a mock-frown, “Jeanie’s the boss, not a short-stack. Right, Jeanie?”

“Right!” Jeanie nodded firmly and lifted her head with a huff even as Tony poked his tongue out at Rhodey.

“Yeah, yeah, go stealing my sister, why don’t you?” Rhodey teased and Tony _preened_  before shrugging. Rhodey noted the other person who had trailed behind Tony and shot a small grin at the girl. “Hey,” he greeted before looking at Tony for an introduction.

“What? Oh, right,” Tony turned to the teenager rolling her eyes at him, “Jim, meet Mandy. My god-cousin.”

“Amanda,” the girl corrected with narrowed eyes at Tony who simply shrugged with a grin. She shook her head and looked back at Rhodey with a polite smile, “Amanda Carter-Sousa. I’m this idiot’s better version.”

“You wish,” Tony scoffed in mock-arrogance and Amanda raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sorry, who’s the one who ran around the corridor yelling at doctors when all you had to do was fill out a form?” she asked in a bossy tone and Rhodey bit back a chuckle at the scowl on Tony’s face.

“Just because you’re a ninja assassin, doesn’t make you any awesomer than me,” Tony huffed.

“Sure, Anthony,” Amanda said in a mocking tone and Rhodey snorted when Tony made a face at the full name.

“So, Amanda Carter, huh?” Rhodey took the attention away from the argument and grinned at the girl thoughtfully, “Connected to a Peggy Carter by any chance?”

The girl’s face tightened for a minute and Rhodey didn’t miss the way Tony almost winced but then she was shrugging casually.

“Yeah, she’s my mom,” she said in what was supposed to be a carefree tone but was laced with caution. _Ah_ , Rhodey thought, _another big name kid_.

“Well, if you’re a ninja assassin,” Rhodey said with an eye-roll at Tony before looking at Amanda, “you must be really cool.”

Amanda blinked, like she had expected a different reaction and Rhodey had an inkling of what she expected, but then she relaxed and smirked at Rhodey.

“The coolest,” she assured with a headstrong tilt of her head. 

“Hey, she’s my friend!” Jeanette piped up from the side, frowning at Rhodey and he raised an eyebrow at the new development, “You’ve got Tony, I get the cooler one.”

“Ouch, boss, that hurts,” Tony clutched at his chest with a mock-wounded expression and ducked when Roberta Rhodes whacked him lightly on his head.

“I think we can _all_  be friends,” Rhodey said and shared a look with Tony who rolled his eyes.

“Sure, but on one condition,” Amanda said and Rhodey frowned lightly. She smirked and continued, “You’ve really _got to_  change your wardrobe style. All-blue is really boring, Rhodes.”

“Yeah!” Tony chimed in teasingly, “It’s the season for leather anyway.”

Rhodey groaned at the knowledge that Tony was spreading about his wardrobe but his friends simply laughed.

“I think-” Roberta said as she ruffled her son’s hair and grinned at the other kids, “- that can be arranged.”

Rhodey never really lost his blue code but it gradually slipped into other colors and better moods. 

And when years later, he wore the same color sharply, standing proud on a podium, with medals on his chest, he had familiar faces cheering him on loudly from the crowd. Those who knew how he had changed his blues into dreams of a different blue. 

Those who had known Rhodey through all his wardrobe phases as he had theirs. And the exhaustion became just a faint remembrance in the reflection. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback please! <3


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